Here are four more you might like. One is just a shot looking south along Chung Shan N. Road. I remember the JAL office, but don’t remember what the cross street was. The other three are of the corner near the Linkou Annex: one of the Roma Hotel, another of the book store on the opposite corner, and one showing both and with the East Compound entrance in the foreground.
These are really great shots. The Linkou Bookstore later became the Caves Bookstore, but I think that was after I left in 1974.
I remember when Japan Airlines (JAL) discontinued flights in and out of Taipei which they had to do to get access to the People's Republic.
I believe the fourth photo was taken from the roof of the hostel that was closest to the street. The other building was directly behind this one with a paved area between them. You can see the gate to the east compound directly ahead and the back of the Roma hotel is just beyond it. I walked through that gate to get to TDC for the 15 months I was there. Directly across Chung Shan North Road from the east gate was the entrance to the west compound where the chapel, PMO, the gas station and the bowling alley were located.
What is the approximate date for these photos? Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteGeorge,
ReplyDeleteLes labeled the first one as 1963 and the second as 1972. I think the other two were probably around the latter date.
Don
Don,
ReplyDeleteThat's what I guessed as there is a big difference between the first and other photos. You can almost see the standard of living improving before your eyes!
I seem to remember that photograph of the JAL Airlines Office,so I looked up the address in my 1968 Taipei Telephone Directory and their office is listed as
ReplyDelete143 Chungshan North Road Section 1.
I attempted to find it on Google Earth but gave up after 3 tries. Stree view causes the program to crash after jumping up and down the street a few times. Maybe I need more RAM.
Maybe someone can locate the address and let us know which cross street the old office sat on.
Kent - Taipei Air Station
I think the dates on these photos were 1962-63 on the first, 1972-73 on the 2nd and 3rd, and 1978 on the last one. Interesting, when JAL stopped flying into Taiwan so they could get into the mainland market, the ever-enterprising Japanese simply repainted some JAL aircraft and created a subsidiary, Japan Asia Airways, which kept flying into Taiwan right up to 2008. Check it out at:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Asia_Airways
Les
Les, that's a very interesting factoid about JAL. I never knew that. I remember the day of JAL's last flight out of Taipei and there was a picture in the paper showing an official of JAL and an official from the Taiwan government shaking hands and they both had tears in their eyes.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines
ReplyDeleteThe signing of Civil Air Transport Agreement between the People's Republic of China and Japan on April 20, 1974, caused the suspension of air route between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Japan on April 21. A new subsidiary, Japan Asia Airways, was established on August 8, 1975, and air services between the two countries were restored on September 15.